Fierce Consort (Part 2)

Chapter 172

Everyone in the capital was focused on who would be the successor.

The Jingguo Duke's Xiao clan was the busiest.

The crown prince's death naturally made them completely heartbroken, but they would also be happy to see his heir ascend the throne. If their Xiao clan could have an empress dowager, they would still be the emperor's clan. Their Jingguo Duke Estate would still be the biggest winner.

The Xiao clan secretly instigated court officials to frequently send petitions. Of course, some were in favor and some were opposed. A group of officials headed by Minister Xu were among those who did not approve of this.

This was because the crown prince's sons were all too young. A child emperor would be easily influenced by his relatives, and there would also be the Xiao clan's empress dowager behind him. At that point, perhaps the dynasty's surname would end up being changed.

These days the court was filled with debate and arguments about this issue.

Emperor Xi was seriously ill, and the two senior ministers took charge of the court. But these two ministers were arguing amongst themselves as well, so the court was inevitably a mess.

At this moment, a low-ranked imperial censor from the capital's investigation bureau spoke up.

This imperial censor was called Guan Zheng, and was a relatively unknown person in the investigation bureau. But what he proposed this time shook the entire court. Guan Zheng's proposal mentioned two things. One was that the fifth prince Luo Jing's muteness had been cured long ago, and he was merely taciturn.

Not many people knew about this. The second was that under his management, the Jing Province had long since transformed from a barren province to one where the commoners lived happily and peacefully. They all praised him as a great vassal prince.

Of course, there were those who asked how he knew about the situation so clearly. After investigating Guan Zheng's background, they realized that this Guan Zheng used to be the left adjutant of the Jing Province, and had only finished his posting less than two years ago.

What was previously only one choice now became two. Those who opposed a young successor all shifted their gaze upon the previously obscure location: the Jing Province.
Once they obtained more information, the voices calling for the Jing Prince started growing louder.

Empress Xiao and the Jingguo Duke's side started panicking once again.

But the situation didn't remain this way for long. Emperor Xi soon gave the order to summon the Jing Prince back to the capital.
The meaning of this was self-evident.

Actually, no one was aware of how hesitant Emperor Xi had been to summon the Jing Prince back to the capital.

Even the Zhenguo Duke had been called into the palace.

"Uncle Mao Shan, what do you think of old fifth?"

This question was very hard to answer. The Zhenguo Duke muttered to himself for a moment before saying: "From the debate in court over the past few days, this fifth highness seems to be a pretty good candidate. He's just a little repressed and had always remained unknown. People only found out about him recently."

Wasn't that obvious? If people knew about him earlier, the grass on top of his grave would probably be knee-high already.

This wasn't what Emperor Xi really wanted to ask, but the Zhenguo Duke was too vigilant and refused to follow up. Emperor Xi was helpless and could only speak again: "Old fourth that child is also pretty good. His appearance is just a little undignified."